DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — PSJA Memorial quarterback Michael Gonzalez was praised this offseason for his hard work.
“Michael is in for a big year,” Wolverines coach Gus Cavazos promised earlier this month.
The 6-foot, 240-pound junior is certainly headed that way. Gonzalez had a strong season-opener Thursday against La Joya Juarez-Lincoln at PSJA Stadium, completing 9 of 12 passes for 128 yards and a pair of TDs, and running for two more TDs in a 33-0 win.
“I worked my tail off this summer, and this is a good feeling,” Gonzalez said. “Everyone had a hand in this. The running backs ran hard, receivers made clutch catches, linemen dominated.
“It’s a good start.”
The Wolverines (1-0) and Huskies (0-1) each have playoff expectations for this season; each returns a good amount of starters. But the Wolverines looked weeks ahead on Thursday as Gonzalez had his way, finding open receivers with ease or carrying the ball for TDs or first downs.
He had help. Whether it was running back Jonathan Treviño (86 yards, TD) toting punishing the Huskies’ front seven or receiver Gerardo Bocanegra (59 yards) finding daylight on his routes, the Huskies had trouble covering whatever the Wolverines threw at them.
“To me, even more than the quarterback, it was the offensive line,” Juarez-Lincoln coach Tomas Garcia said. “They dominated the trenches, on both ends. They were pushing us back on offense, and against our defense they were doing whatever they wanted.”
In all, Memorial produced 334 total yards to Juarez-Lincoln’s 126, and Gonzalez had the start he was looking for since last season.
“Michael’s a leader,” Cavazos said. “For being a young kid, he’s got a lot of leadership skills. He doesn’t get rattled. He’s a big, strong kid and he’s great to have.
“The great thing about him is he’s just a junior, so we get to coach him another two seasons.”
YOUNG LINE
The Huskies started three sophomores on the offensive line, and it showed.
Senior quarterback Edward Garcia was scrambling all night as the front struggled to contain a Memorial defensive line led by Mario Chavez and Jose Ramirez that contributed five sacks.
“There was a lot of miscommunication, misalignment,” Garcia said. “A lot of mental errors. All I heard on the headset was people being lined up wrong. But we understand what we got.
“We know where we’re at, and we have a lot of work to do.”
WORKING OUT THE KINKS
Teams are still adjusting to the UIL’s new 40-second play clock. The new rule allows the clock to continue from play to play, with the exception of timeouts or official timeouts, instead of beginning when the official sets the ball.
Juarez-Lincoln had two delay-of-game penalties and two false starts. Memorial had two false starts.
There was a lot of adjustment, actually, on Thursday. Memorial and Juarez-Lincoln combined for 23 penalties for 190 yards.
“It’s funny that last week in our scrimmage, we hardly had any penalties, and this week we had a bunch,” said Cavazos, whose team was whistled 12 times for 120 yards. “Was it nerves, was it jitters? I’m not sure. But we need to look at the film.”
PAINFUL LOSS
Already lacking depth, the Huskies had more injuries take place Thursday.
The big one was to starting running back Michael Cuellar, who was carried off on a stretcher with less than four minutes left in the game. He ran the ball twice for nine yards.
Juarez-Lincoln’s free safety and starting defensive tackle also left with injuries.
“I’ve always said we’re a couple injuries away from not being very good, and it was obvious today,” Garcia said. “But bottom line is our backups need to come in and produce.”